IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11b and Bluetooth™ are known as techniques for forming wireless links among a plurality of apparatuses. In this specification, a wireless link and a wireless communication refer to those that use radio waves.
IEEE 802.11b is used to form a wireless LAN (local area network) by forming wireless links among, for example, a plurality of personal computers, access-point devices, etc.
Bluetooth is used, for example, to exchange specified data (control-command data, text data, still-picture data, moving-picture data, audio data, etc.) between personal computers, PDAs (personal digital assistants), cellular phones, digital video cameras, etc.
When a wireless LAN is to be formed using the wireless link techniques described above, in which only desired ones of a plurality of nearby electronic apparatuses capable of forming wireless links are to be linked, in order to inhibit an unintended electronic apparatus from getting linked with the wireless LAN, according to one method, ID information, passwords, etc. are set in advance to electronic apparatuses that are to be linked to the wireless LAN.
However, it has been laborious for a user to set network configuration by entering ID information and a password to an electronic apparatus for which a wireless link is to be formed.
Furthermore, setting network configuration is difficult for a user not familiar with operating the electronic apparatus for which a wireless link is to be formed, and is not considered to be an operation that can be readily performed by anyone.
Furthermore, since the ID information and password themselves are usually meaningless sequences of characters and digits, errors could occur when the user manually enters the ID information and password.